A Carnival Visit Gone Wrong
by CrossoverQueen
Summary: Just how powerful IS Saleh, anyway? Oneshot. [AU, Sacred Stones]


**A/N:** It's based on this really funny dream I had. And despite the hilariousness of it all, Saleh stayed perfectly in character. This takes place in the modern world, but I assure you that everyone will be in-character as much as possible.

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"... and Ewan, make sure you stay out of trouble." The sage looked his student in the eye as he finished. "I can't fix everything you break because you tried to--"

"Saleh." Tethys interrupted. "If you try to hem in Ewan like that, he's going to focus too much on what you tell him. It's not like you have to watch him every minute of the day. And do you see anything that looks like a Fire tome here?"

"...Then why are you going with him?" Saleh inquired.

"There's bound to be someone with a handsome older brother," she told him flippantly as the ticket person gave back their tickets.

"See you later, Teacher!" Ewan waved, then took off in the direction of the rides. Tethys started after her brother, muttering something the sage couldn't quite hear.

Saleh would never understand how Ewan could put up with his sister's... tactless remarks.

"Don't worry sir, we're used to people with high expectations," an off-duty employee told him kindly. "Are you all mages? The girl mentioned something about tomes."

"...Ewan is my student," he replied. "Tethys is his older sister."

"Hey! You with the gray hair!" Someone shoved through the crowd. Saleh turned to see a large, burly man dressed like an axefighter coming towards him. "Are you the Saleh from Caer Pelyn?"

"... Yes." The minute he answered, he knew something was wrong. Perhaps the fact that the fighter drew his axe and charged at him was the reason why.

People shrieked and ran aside as Saleh jumped over the ticket gate and ran, the bandit hot in pursuit. All other thoughts left his mind as he realized that he had no tomes, no staves, and certainly no means of defense against the man's axe. Those thoughts, and searching for a hiding place that the fighter couldn't chop up.

Saleh ruled out the house of mirrors; the fighter would likely smash the mirrors till he hit the real Saleh or an innocent bystander. He also stayed off a good number of the rides; they'd make him quite defenseless, as he would be secured in place while moving quickly on a narrow metal track. That only left two options.

_I can either find a place made completely out of stone, or one of the pegasus knights will be here at this moment with her--_

"Innes, look! It's Saleh!" cried a young woman's voice. Saleh paused for a brief moment to see Tana, with a dour-looking Innes in tow, waving hello to him. She was not wearing her usual armor, though, and had on a dark blue skirt with a matching blouse. "Hello, Saleh! Are you with Ewan and Tethys? I think I saw them a few minutes ago. They were headed that way." She pointed to her left, somewhat oblivious to the fact that Saleh had been running, as his life depended on it.

_...with her pegasus_, Saleh finished his thought. "... Goodbye, Tana," was all he said before the fighter came into view. By that time Saleh had taken off again, much to Tana's dismay.

"Innes, why did he say goodbye instead of hello?" she asked. She gasped. "What if he's in trouble? He could be sick or--"

The fighter charged past them, his axe at the ready as he gave a battle cry. For a moment the siblings were silent, and then Innes' sarcastic voice pierced the still air.

"Tana, do you think that man's trying to find someone?"

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_All right_, Saleh thought. _Tana didn't ride her pegasus here, there is nothing that can withstand an angry fighter's axe, and I'm certain that I won't find a place with a Fire tome and no people in it--_

He jerked to a stop as he nearly ran into a sign that said, _Ride is off limits. We apologize for the inconvenience :(._ It indicated the ferris wheel, but it seemed fine to Saleh. Nevertheless he ducked past the chain and stood to collect his thoughts. Perhaps he should find another place?

He heard an angry yell in the distance and shook his head. At the speed the fighter was going, he'd arrive at any moment and try to behead him--and Saleh _still_ didn't know why. Unfortunately, the sage lost valuable time trying to fathom the reason, and was caught off-guard when a hand axe thudded into the tree to his right.

"You!" The fighter raised his axe, but once again Saleh had taken off in the direction of the ferris wheel. Undeterred, he broke the chain in half with an earsplitting screech of metal and charged after the sage.

Saleh looked at the ferris wheel a moment. Then, hardly aware of what he was doing, he started climbing the ferris wheel much like he would a cliff. Once again he wondered why it was closed off. It wasn't rusty, nor was it about to collapse on itself (which was a blessing, otherwise he'd be crushed to death under thousands of pounds of metal around now).

He _really_ hoped Ewan wasn't here right now; of all the things he should model his actions after, scaling a ferris wheel was definitely not one of them. For one, Saleh had been navigating cliffs that were much less stable than this since he was eight. Ewan, even with his time in Caer Pelyn, was still rather ungainly compared to others of his age.

_If I had brought a fire tome..._ Saleh thought as he neared the center of the wheel. Presently, he was aware of a faint shaking. He looked down, then froze as he saw the cause of it.

The fighter was _following_ him _up the ferris wheel_. Was there anything this person _wouldn't_ do to kill him? Saleh started climbing again.

A sudden tug at his cape nearly made him lose his footing. At first he thought that by some horrible twist of fate, the fighter had caught up with him. But since he wasn't being strangled nor beheaded, he tried to reach the next bar and was again stopped by a strange tug.

His cape was snagged.

"... Wonderful. Now I'm defenseless and stuck in place." Even Marisa would have envied his inhumanly calm tone as he slipped between the bars to the inside of the ferris wheel. All of the anima and light magic in the world would likely be unable to help him now--any magic that struck the fighter would probably hit him, too. All he had left to his advantage was speed, dexterity, and if need be, sheer willpower to keep from getting hit.

_Wait... willpower. Of course!_ Saleh thought. Magic was directed at the user's will. All he had to do was focus his power to use it. It would be greatly diminished without a tome, but anything was better than nothing at this pont.

He gripped the bars, gathering up every ounce of thought as he saw the fighter get closer. The air seemed to heat up around him as he focused the power that had made him famous, and despised by the bandits searching the mountains for valuable items.

The fighter paused as he felt the metal heat up under his hands, but continued when he saw that Saleh had stopped moving. He didn't seem to notice that the metal became hotter, focused only on the sage who seemed completely oblivious of the narrowing gap between them.

The metal was turning red with heat, and with the heat it started to bend slightly. The fighter took his chances and started trying to break the bars with his hands--using his axe would mean risking a fall from over forty feet.

"If you keep that up, you'll be burned to the marrow." Saleh warned him. When he saw the metal start to give, he gave one last effort to focus his magic. _As long as it gets him away, I don't care if--_

_**BOOM!**_

The ferris wheel exploded. The fighter was thrown a good distance as Saleh's magic blew him back. Saleh, though, was simply falling at an angle.

_...It could have been worse_, the sage thought. _At least I didn't get hit by my own magic... Hmm?_ "...Agh!"

Great Dragon, he was going to be impaled on the fence!

He shut his eyes and prayed that, if he was indeed going to die in a freak carnival accident (that he'd caused in self-defense), his death would at least be painless.

But when the moment of impact came, Saleh did not feel the searing agony of a pole going through his torso. Rather, it felt more like he'd run all the way down a steep hill and into someone at the bottom of it.

"Ow!" The speaker was obviously winded, but he cleared his throat and continued, "Gods, what just _happened_?"

A silence as Saleh regained his bearings.

"Excuse me sir," the person shook him gingerly. "Are you alive?"

"...Gerik?"

"Oh, hello, Saleh!" Gerik said amiably as Saleh got up from the ground and brushed himself off.

"Hello, Gerik."

"Were you riding the ferris wheel or did you blow it up just now?" Gerik asked.

"I... blew it up," Saleh answered.

"What made you do it?" the mercenary asked, surprised. "You're the most level-headed person I know."

"It's rather confusing. ...Gerik?"

"Yeah?"

"...Don't tell Ewan."


End file.
